TFU | Nov. 6-12

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton reaffirmed that ICOs in most cases appear to be securities offerings; a report from the Cleveland Fed said P2P loans bear similarities to “predatory loans”; a bug in a popular digital currency wallet potentially froze over $100M of Ethereum; Apple is rolling out P2P payments in its iMessage app; Revolut applied for an EU banking license; and Deutsche Bank’s CEO said AI and machine learning could replace up to half of a bank’s traditional staff.

Cleveland Fed says P2P loans leave consumers deeper in debt. In a new research paper [full text] on online loan products, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland found that P2P loans “resemble predatory loans” in terms of market served and customer impact. Notably, the findings are “in tension” with similar studies from the Chicago and Philadelphia Feds.

LendingClub to tighten credit standards. The San Francisco-based online lender said it plans to approve “a more creditworthy mix of borrowers going forward,” increasing concerns about its credit decisioning standards in conjunction with “worse-than-expected [Q3] performance” and lower-than-expected revenues for Q4.

Revolut applies for EU bank license. The London-based bank services firm applied for a banking license in Lithuania, which, if approved, would allow Revolut to operate as a bank throughout the European Union. Revolut is eyeing global expansion, with a planned U.S. launch in mid-2018, amid increasing competition from other “challenger banks” like Starling, Monzo, and N26.

Apple launches P2P payments in iMessage. The company did a “soft roll-out” of Apple Pay Cash, which is still in beta. The feature allows U.S. customers to send and receive money in the iMessage app, provided they run iOS 11.2 beta 2, using any debit or credit card associated with Apple Pay. Apple is “working with Green Dot to power the financial mechanics of Apple Cash.”